


The Way of the Stars

by RareUnusual



Category: Naruto
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe, Blood and Violence, Futuristic, Hybrids, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Outer Space, Pining, Slow Burn, Training, War, Wings, elemental powers, super natural - Freeform, super powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-06-25 18:35:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15646548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RareUnusual/pseuds/RareUnusual
Summary: Let us go over nine-thousand years into the future. Earth is not the only place inhabited by life. As more advanced technology was created, multiple humans had traveled to other planets, adapting to the environment and starting a civilization.As the young trainers boarded onto the starship for the war, they learned how to control and uncover their powers, as well as experiencing more and more emotions.Excitement, anger, hate, shock, wonder, grief, loneliness, hopelessness, and even.. love.





	1. First Step

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you notice the reference in the start of the summary?
> 
> I do not own Naruto, of course. This is just a fanfiction that I have been thinking about for a while.
> 
> This is a Futuristic Outer Space AU. Or something. I honestly do not know what to call it.

_"The ship will arrive in twenty minutes. Please wait patiently until further notice."_

The group of people stood in the center of the clearing, surrounded by the forest. Hushed whispers spread throughout the crowd. A few people shifted impatiently. Someone accidentally stepped on his foot, but he was too excited to care. Rock Lee stared at the blue-purple sky with wide eyes. Today was finally the day.

Each year, a ship from space touched down onto the planet to pick up new recruits. Anyone of any age were welcome, unless they were a criminal of any sort. Lee had even heard of a five year-old getting on the ship before! Most kids usually signed up when they were twelve or thirteen, just like him. He was going to be one of the students to finally train for the ways of the mercenary!

The planet that Lee was on was called "Chlorerra". A combination of chloro- green -and terra- land. Chlorerra was made up of many large forests, with rivers and lakes that cut through the trees. The buildings were made either inside hollowed caves, or underground space, to avoid disturbing the wildlife.

All of the kids started attending to an academy at the age of four. They were taught how to practice controlling their power and energy. Most of the kids there possessed the power to control the plant life, which was very useful for helping out at the harvest and playing around in the forest.

The second most common power in Chlorerra was the ability to move the earth. Lee remembered the time when everyone demonstrated their power, and one of the kids nearly caused a cave-in with his earth-splitting power.

One-tenth of the kids at the academy were able to bend water, and only a few were able to summon and control fire. Lee was always amazed whenever he saw the other kids train. It was both fun and exciting to watch.

Then there were those other kids that made fun of Lee. There were multiple reasons for this. One was his freakishly big and round eyes. Another was his thick eyebrows. His too black and shiny hair. His hairstyle. His fashion sense. For some reason, the kids always made fun of whatever Lee possessed. They seemed to hate him automatically, which made Lee a little sad, because he did not understand why they would act with so much hatred. They constantly teased and picked on him about anything and everything.

The most common reason was his lack of power and skill. He never found his power, while most of the others had before they had even stepped into the academy. One of his teachers were kind enough to help him, but the help wasn't enough. He tried the simplest power techniques, but they never ever worked.

He tried to make a flower bloom, but only managed to stare at the flower until an insect flew into his eyes. He tried to break down stone, but only managed to limp away with a few broken fingers. He tried to pull a stream of water from a puddle, but only managed to get his clothes wet. He even tried to move fire, which resulted him in catching on fire. Luckily, his sensei was there to help him, even when it meant stomping on Lee to put out the flames.

The point is, Lee had not found his natural power. He did not even know if he had one to begin with. Both of his parents were gone, most likely killed in the war, according to Gai-sensei. Nobody had ever told him about his parents. He still wondered how they looked like and if they were watching him from the heavens.

Lee pushed those thoughts memories aside, and shook in excitement when he remembered once again. He was going to space! It was going to be a fresh new start. He had always wondered what it would feel like to be surrounded with stars, suspended in the middle of the universe. What would he see? What will he learn? There was just so much things to do!

Neji nudged him, huffing slightly. The pale-eyed boy was silent and still, clearly thinking about his own life from the way his eyes were clouded and narrowed. Lee quickly stopped squirming but still kept his smile. Neji had his own unique powers from his bloodline. He was given the ability to see very far, notice the smallest of details, pick out weak spots, and to see straight through layers of any material. He also had a three-hundred-sixty degrees point of view if he concentrated hard enough.

Tenten checked the watch that she had gotten from her parents. Ten more minutes until the ship arrived. Tenten was not very special, but she was average at everything. She could use all of the elements, but only managed faint attacks without much power. She was specialized in weapons, and her accuracy was deadly and sharp. Lee had witnessed the brunette throwing a dagger into a bird's eye while it was flying with high speed, twenty meters off the ground.

Just as Lee was about to check his pack for the twenty-sixth time, the danger alarms sounded. Everyone stopped talking at once, and lifted their heads in surprise. The noise was distorted from lack of use. Danger alarms rarely ever happened in Chlorerra. There were usually no threats of any kind. Lee could not remember the last time the alarms ever sounded. The teachers pushed the students into a tight circle, surrounding the children protectively.

Gai-sensei was tense, alert. Lee looked up at him in confusion, but was only met with a forced smile of reassurance. He felt himself tense as well at the hint of worry in his sensei's eyes. What was happening?

A strange, faint cry came from one edge of the forest. Everyone whipped their heads towards the direction of the noise, but all they could see were trees and plants. Another cry followed, this time more closer. It sounded very broken and strained, as if the owner of the screech had a terribly sore throat. The teachers pushed the students behind them, ready for a fight.

The bushes rustled, and suddenly, everything was cold. Lee felt a chill pass through his bones, gripping onto the orange scarf that Gai-sensei had given to him as a gift. It was a familiar comfort that Lee had grown to love.

A figure stepped out of the bushes. It seemed humanoid, but more strange. Its skin was grey, and it had leathery, bat-like wings, a scaley tail with a stinger at the end, and those arms looked like a praying mantis's, except more white and hard, like bone. It had long, silver hair, and its eyes.. they were pitch black, with blood-red for the iris. More creatures followed behind, these monsters walking on all fours comfortably. They all had claws for fingers, with grey skin and only mouths with sharp teeth on their blank faces. No eyes or nose, only mouths.

Lee felt a tremor of fear settle in his stomach, and he was pushed back with the other students. What was happening? Were they getting attacked? He frowned. Chlorerra was a friendly place. They were rarely ever attacked because of their peaceful ways.

The strange creatures with claws dashed forwards, leaping at them and slashing wildly. Some of the children screamed, and Lee had frozen, unsure of what to do.

"Stay back!" Gai-sensei yelled, both to the creatures and the students. "We are under attack! Stay out of the fight but stay close! There might be more in the forest."

He kicked a creature away, punching another. Some other teachers were shooting elemental energy at the creatures, glancing at the kids from time to time.

Tenten grabbed a younger kid that was about to bolt, trying to tell them gently that there were more in the forest, and staying where they were was the most safest thing to do. The teachers were trying their best, but Lee knew that they were being overwhelmed. He gasped when he saw blood on Gai's clothes. The older man simply kicked away the attacking creature, but another one closed in from behind.

"Gai-sensei!"

Lee jumped at the creature before he could stop himself, dropping his bag on the floor. He did not know exactly why he decided to charge in. It just felt like he had to. He _had_ to protect the teacher that he loves so much. The teacher that helped him feel and become so much better than the weak and broken child he had used to be.

Adrenaline started to course through his veins. He gave a silent thanks for his hard-earned speed when he reached the creature before it could do any harm. He raised his right leg as he jumped, bringing it down as hard as he could on the creature's spine. He heard a loud crack and nearly cringed at the feeling of bone shattering under his foot. He was not used to hurting an actual live creature.

Gai-sensei looked back at him in surprise. "Good job, Lee!" he said, flashing his beloved student with a smile.

The younger raven smiled in return, feeling a a little excited because of both the praise and the adrenaline. He quickly glanced at his friends in worry. He saw Tenten, who was driving two creatures away with her knives, but where was Neji?

He heard a sharp screech and a thud behind him, and he whipped around quickly, arms at the ready to fight. The creature that was behind him fell to the floor, twitching with blood dripping out of its mouth. Neji narrowed his eyes at Lee.

"Are you okay?" the pale-eyed boy muttered. Lee paused, confused. Then, he smiled when he realized that his friend had just saved his back.

"Of course, Neji! Thanks!" The Hyuuga's face dusted lightly with pink.

They both felt a low vibration in the air, followed quickly by a hum of advanced machine. They looked up to see the airship, finally settling down onto the clearing nearby.

Gai-sensei looked up from the creature that he was pummeling, and huffed in relief. "Go to the ship! Go now!"

Lee picked up his fallen bag, slinging it over one shoulder. He took Neji's hand and ran for the ship. A creature leapt at them, but Neji quickly jabbed it in the neck, causing it to fall back crashing to the floor. They were the last to the ship. The opening of the ship was crowded with hesitant and frightened students. They saw soldiers running out of the ship, ready to help the teachers.

Neji and Lee were fifty feet away from the ship, when a shadow feel upon them. Lee jerked his head up in surprise, his eyes meeting with black and red ones. The strange humanoid with bat wings was flying above them. It grinned at the raven, revealing sharp, blood-stained teeth. Neji looked up too, pale eyes narrowing darkly.

The humanoid swooped down, its arms springing open and curving into talons, ready to grab one of the two into the sky. Lee gripped Neji's hand, then pushed off of him, using his friend's arm as a leverage to get higher. The creature did not expect it, because it abruptly changed its position quickly to avoid the upward kick that Lee had sent at it. He back-flipped onto his feet, then continued running, pulling Neji along.

The winged creature let out a shrill screech of frustration, then flew higher to avoid the elemental energy that the soldiers had thrown at it. Lee sighed in relief, his heart racing from the fight and running. His weights slowed him down of course, but he was still fast enough with them on.

When the two reached the ship, Lee looked back to look for Gai-sensei, but the soldiers pushed him inside, blocking his view. Neji shot a glare at one of the soldiers, then shook off the soldier's hand, moving forward quickly to avoid being pushed. He stopped when he realized that his teammate was still lingering behind, protesting against the soldiers. He sighed the walked back, putting a hand on the raven's shoulder.

"Come on, Lee. I'm sure that Gai-sensei is doing okay." he murmured. "He's strong, no creature can kill him. I bet that he's on the ship right now."

Lee seemed to relax noticeably at his words. "If you believe that, Neji, then I will believe that too!"

He stepped away from the soldiers, than followed Neji into the sea of students. They found Tenten leaning against the wall, chatting with an unfamiliar pink-haired girl.

"Hey, Tenten!" Lee greeted the brunette in relief.

"Oh, hey guys!" Tenten smiled slightly, still a little shaken from the sudden attack. "Glad that you two got here safely."

"Hm." Neji watched the pink-haired girl from the corner of his eyes. He did not recognize her face. Perhaps she was from another area. She looked to be around their age, possibly younger.

"Hello, my name is Rock Lee!" Lee gave the girl the Nice Guy Pose that he had learned from Gai.

"Hi, my name is Sakura Haruno." she gave him a polite smile.

"It is nice to meet you, Sakura-chan!"

Neji kept silent, not really caring about his introduction. He was thinking about the attack. Why did they get attacked? He did not recall any announcements about a war.

"This is my friend, Neji Hyuuga!" said Lee, oblivious to Neji's look of mild annoyance. "He saved me earlier today. I owe him my life." the raven clutched a banadaged hand to his chest, eyes tearing up in emotion.

The Hyuuga rolled his eyes, at the raven's over exaggeration, turning away slightly to hide the faint blush on his face. _Snap out of it! What was this feeling?_

"He saved your life?" Sakura frowned. "So you guys really were attacked.."

"Good thing there were no serious injuries." Tenten nodded solemnly.

Neji gave Sakura a sideways glance. _Huh, everyone was put into groups of three in the academy. Where is this girl's group?_

Sakura caught Neji's eyes, blinking slightly in confusion before taking a guess at his questioning gaze.

"Oh, right. I got separated from my group." she scratched the back of her leg with her other foot sheepishly. "You see.. my other one of my teammates is very hyperactive. I think that he got lost, then my other teammate went looking for him." she sighed softly. "I waited but they never came back, so I let the crowd push me around. Then I met Tenten, and she was friendly enough to let me keep me company." she gave the brunette a smile.

"Ah, then I guess you can stay here with us until you find your teammates." Lee glanced at the crowd, probably still looking for his sensei. "If you would like to, that is."

"Of course, thank you, Lee." she smiled again politely.

Neji kept quiet. He tuned the chatter of many voices out, concentrating on the smaller things. He felt a soft vibration in his feet, telling him that the ship was leaving the planet. At that moment, he actually hopes that his sensei had made it to the ship.

He felt a small, yet sudden jolt in his gut. The ship was increasing in speed. He closed his eyes, activating his byakugan. He felt the presence of Clorerra getting fainter and fainter. The sky was getting darker.. then.. he saw stars.

He deactivated his special eyes, not wanting to overuse it. Just as he was opening his eyes, he heard a loud shout, right in his left ear.

"Gai-sensei! You have made it back safely!"

He cringed at the sudden loudness, but managed to neutralize his expression before throwing an annoyed glance at his teammate. Lee, of course, being Lee, either decided to ignore it, or did not even see it at all.

"Lee! I thought that I would never see you again!"

Neji cringed once more. The two were both equally loud. He wondered what he had done wrong to suffer being in a group with two overly-dramatic and enthusiastic people.

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

They both ran at each other, meeting halfway in a hug that was filled with smiles and tears. He could see the waves crashing on the shore, over the rocks that the two were standing on, the sunset beautiful, turning the sky orange.

Neji cringed for the third time in less than a minute. He shrunk into himself, trying to pretend that he didn't know the two near-identical males. Fortunately, the voices of the many people were able to drown out the two's dramatic moment. Tenten sighed, rolling her eyes yet smiling, while Sakura just stood there, confused. Everyone else minded their own business, so Neji was free from the humiliation that he totally did not deserve.

As the two emotional ravens were broken apart by a scolding Tenten, Neji felt a strange presence. Two strange presences actually. The strange aura that was closer to him felt cold and blood-thirsty, void of emotion, while the strange aura that was fainter felt hot and fierce, excited for anything.

He glanced at the direction towards the closer aura. He searched through the crowd of students and soldiers, until his eyes met their mark. The cold aura belonged to a spiky red-haired boy with pale skin and sea-green eyes. Neji stared at those cold, emotionless eyes. This kid was not like the others around him. He was more.. dark.. powerful.

Suddenly, the sea-green eyes met Neji's pale ones. He felt himself feel stiff, as if something was clogging up in his bloodstream, digging into his skin. Even when he felt as if those cold eyes were looking straight into his soul, he let his face relax, staring back calmly, refusing to back down. The red-haired boy narrowed his eyes, clearly not pleased.

Neji stared into the eyes, trying to pry at the stranger's thoughts. He found a small opening, and he nudged at it with his mind. Instantly, he saw a flash of a memory. _Many faces with many emotions stared right back at him. Fear, horror, disgust, anger. There was not even one bit of a smile, only fear and hatred. No happiness, no hope, everyone hated him. Everyone left him, nobody cared about him. He was alone, isolated, but not forgotten. Nobody will forget a monster._

The memory disappeared, and Neji was back on the ship, still staring at the boy's eyes. The redhead looked away, his face smoothing back into the emotionless stare. The Hyuuga dropped his gaze as well, focusing on the loud voice of one of the high soldiers instead.

"Alright, newcomers, it is time for your assigned rooms!" the soldier said.

Other soldiers started handing out pieces of papers to the teachers. Gai stared searched for their names, his face slowly breaking into a smile. "Alright, we got 2-D, or D-2 of the Leaf Nation! Come on my faithful students, we shall run through the sunset together!"

As if on cue, the metal walls opened up, revealing the reinforced glass that separated the people on the ship from the dangers of space. Most of the students gasped or sighed in awe. There was a nearby star that acted like the Sun, yet fainter. It was partially hidden behind a meteoroid, resembling a sunset.

Neji had already "seen" the view of space, so he turned to look at his teammates' reactions, savoring the rare silence that came from them.

Tenten smiled softly at the beautiful sight. She seemed to have relaxed from the earlier attack, tracing her favorite set of weapons absentmindedly with her fingers. There was a look of calm happiness on her face, which seemed a little strange because Tenten was usually smiling happily whenever she had made a perfect shot into the target's eyes. Neji would never forget the way the blood streamed out of the wound like a fountain.

A sniffle made the pale-eyed boy glance up. Gai looked like he wanted to cry and give a speech. That was expected from the emotional man. Neji had to admit, the view was beautiful, and Gai always seemed to feel inspired whenever he witnessed something wonderful like this. His sensei kept quiet, and Neji was thankful for that once more.

He finally peered at Lee, who had grown still. The stars seemed to reflect off of his wide, pitch black eyes. He was silent, not moving a muscle. He was not even breathing. Was this sight that breathtaking for this boy? The light dimmed, and Neji looked back at that sight. The "Sun" had set.

For some strange reason, Neji felt a little bit more.. "close" to the raven-haired kid. He glanced at Lee, a little unsure about why he was suddenly feeling like that. He had felt the same feeling when Lee had thanked him for saving him, when Lee had dragged him into the ship, and when Lee had exaggerated about Neji saving his life. A little fluttering in his chest. A little sense of.. liking?

Neji shook away those thoughts. Maybe he was just finally looking at Lee as if he was a trusted teammate, instead of the talentless freak that he had used to see the raven as when he was younger. Maybe..

The people in the ship started moving once more, chattering away and pushing. The sight was gone, it was only normal for them to start moving to their dorms.

"Amazing! At was such a beautiful view!" Gai smiled, blinding any stranger that looked their way while Lee nodded his head seriously in agreement. "Now, to our assigned rooms!"

Gai posed in that weird, heroic way, legs bent and finger pointing towards their destination. Lee let out an energetic "Yes, Gai-Sensei!" and started squirming in excitement.

Tenten waved at Sakura, then followed the two ravens, who were both trying their hardest not to start running through the crowd. Neji picked up his own bag, and trailed behind them slowly, sighing through his nose.

Yes, he was a little bit excited, but this was going to be a long day..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is currently just a test and I do not have much ideas for it, so I may lose motivation to continue later on. I do not have a fixed date for updating, meaning that I will post at random times, without any sort of pattern. Most of the chapters may take a long time to develop, so please be patient.
> 
> I am not planning to put in any sort of adult content, but I may add in some heated parts in the later chapters if you would like me to. I can not guarantee it though. Apologies.


	2. The Rival

Everything was warm. Safe and comfortable, relaxing his muscles and chasing away his tension. Never-ending peace, a sacred time of lovely rest. Neji sighed deeply into the covers of his bed. He just wanted to sleep. It had been a long day, with the attack and constant dodging through the throng of students, soldiers, and teachers to find their room, D-2.

All he wanted, was to relax. He was at beautiful peace. Nothing, absolutely nothing could ever ruin this momen-

"WAKE UP, NEJI! IT IS NOT TIME TO SLEEP YET!"

Neji shot up from his covers in surprise. Fortunately, the sheets muffled his yelp of surprise. Unfortunately, the sheets managed to trip him, sending him crashing off of the bed.

"Oh. Ah, sorry about that Neji."

The Hyuuga sat up from the floor, rubbing his head. He glared at Lee, waving away the bandaged hand that was offering help to get up. His sighed, closing his eyes and turning his head downward to hide his embarrassment.

"Are you tired already, Neji?" Tenten's voice came from the room's kitchen. There was no cooking smell in the air, so Neji assumed that the girl was just looking around.

"You can sleep after we explore the entire ship!" Gai stepped out of the kitchen, a smile plastered across his face. "Training starts tomorrow, so we have to get used to the structure of this place."

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee agreed enthusiastically. Neji sighed once more, but this time it was not filled with annoyance, but with slight relief. Everything was still the same. Nothing had changed after the attack. Tenten was normal and level-headed like always, Gai was weird like always, same goes with Lee.

"So, where do you guys want to visit first?" Gai decided to let his students choose.

"I would really like to visit the training rooms! Oh, or the indoor forest!" Lee half-shouted.

"The training rooms sound nice." Tenten peeked out of the kitchen, nodding in thought. "Later, I want to see the weaponry. I hope that they'll let us use throwing knives."

Neji leaned over to look at the map. Nothing really caught his eyes, except one. It was unlabeled, and the spacing was very large, similar sizing to the training rooms. He decided to find it on his own later.

"To the training rooms it is, then!" Gai did his heroic pose once more, pointing at the door to the hallways. Neji put down the map, and started to fold his sheets back onto the bed.

"Wait, I forgot to do something!" Lee turned back to his bag, unzipping one of the pockets. He slowly slipped a hand through it, then took out a.. ball.. of fur?

Neji raised an eyebrow at the raven. "Uh, what is that?"

The ball unraveled into a small, brownish creature with curious eyes and a fluffy tail. It was a squirrel.

"I know that we were going to leave our own planet for at least a year," Lee explained. "So I decided to bring something from home with us!"

"Uh, Lee." Gai scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I don't think.. that we are allowed to bring animals onboard."

Lee's usually bright face darkened into a look of morose. "Is that so? Oh.. what do I do with him? I can not just throw him out into outerspace!" He watched the small creature climb up his arms, which was oblivious to the problem.

"Well I heard that you are allowed to bring animals, but only if they do not disturb any of the people here and if the animal is kept at the indoor forest for most of the time."

Neji had no idea why he said this. Yes, it was true, but why did he say it? He just wanted the look of sadness to go away from Lee's face. He did not want his raven-haired friend to feel upset because it made him feel upset. Wait why did he care? What was happening to him? _Oh God why-?_

"Thank you so much Neji! Let us go to the forest together then!" the sudden voice shook the Hyuuga out of his inner turmoil.

Neji just nodded sharply in response, trying to calm down his thought. He felt his face heating up, but he had no idea why. The only time he had ever blushed was when he was first practicing at the academy. He tripped over his own feet when he tried to track a bird while using his special eyes.

He had been embarrassed, but he was certain that he was not embarrassed at the moment. Why would he be embarrassed for talking to Lee. He just felt a little.. light-hearted? Was it even possible for Neji to feel happy in any way?  _What a strange feeling.._

“To the forest then!” Gai smile as he strolled out of the room, and Neji felt bad for whoever was caught in the rays of the blinding smile that his sensei possessed.

Lee practically sprinted out of the room in his excitement, leaving behind a trail of springtime and youth.

Neji waited for Tenten to walk ahead of him, but when he met eyes with the knife expert, he saw a knowing look in her brown orbs and a slight smirk.

”What is it?” Neji asked, genuinely confused.

She just shook her head, half-smirking half-smiling with a playful twinkle in her eyes. “Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about something..”

She stepped out of the room before Neji could question her about her thoughts. The Hyuuga sighed, then followed his team into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

There were only a few other students and teachers in the hall. They were probably exploring, just like Neji’s team. He soon caught up with his teammates, but he stayed a good five feet behind them, so that he would not get caught up in the odd enthusiasm of the exuberant green people.

”Gai-sensei!” Lee stared at his teacher with a serious face. “How many laps do you think that we should run each day?”

”Hm, good question, Lee.” Gai stroked his chin with a look of deep concentration on his face. “It really depends on how large the training room is. The smaller the room, the more laps we’ll have to run.”

Lee’s eyes widened. “Of course! Why have I not thought of that?”

Gai just let out a chuckle before ruffling the smaller’s hair. “You are still young, Lee. You have a lot more things to learn!”

The teen curled his fingers into fists, fire in his eyes. “Then I promise, Gai-sensei. I will master everything that you are willing to teach me!”

Neji rolled his eyes, but he felt his mouth quirking up into a very small smile. Tenten nudged him, and the Hyuuga turned to see those eyes that revealed a tinge of not-so-subtle giddy smugness.

”What?” Neji frowned. Tenten was really acting strange today.

”Hehe, nothing.” the brunette sped up until she was walking next to the two ravens.

Neji felt himself grow suspicious. Was Tenten hiding a secret? Was she really an enemy? Was this actually the real Tenten? Perhaps she was a spy all along! Wait, but that would not making any sense, right?

The three at the front slowed to a stop.

”Wow..” he heard Tenten whisper.

Neji looked up. The three in front of him were standing in front of an opening, so the Hyuuga was unable to look past them.

”What is it?” he asked, trying to push them out of his way.

Tenten and Lee parted to give Neji some of the view, and what Neji saw actually surprised him. The indoor forest, was literally an indoor forest. Soil for the ground, and plant life covering the wall and ceiling. He could spot a few birds perched in the tall trees. The leaves had a healthy green glow to it, and the flowers perked up proudly. There was light throughout the entire room, but Neji could not detect the source of the Sun-like light. There was.. actual life.

”Here you go, I will visit after training, little one!” Lee held an arm to one of the trees, and the squirrel hesitantly inched closer to the bark. It gave the tree a little sniff, before resting a small paw onto the hard surface. With a twitch of its fluffy tail, it raced up the tree, whiskers quivering in excitement.

Lee stared at it, obsidian eyes watering with emotion. “Goodbye, my friend!”

”Don’t worry Lee!” Gai also looked like he was about to cry. “You will be able to visit him everyday!”

Tenten let out a small laugh as student and teacher started to wipe away their tears. “I knew that that would happen.” she giggled.

Neji sighed, almost fondly, watching the squirrel explore its new home. It slowly climbed up the tree, then with one last flick of its fluffy tail, disappeared into the leaves.

Lee shook his head, then straightened up. Gai placed a hand on his student’s shoulder, then looked back at Tenten and Neji with a blinding smile.

”Alright, it is time to go to the Training Rooms!” their sensei exclaimed.

”Yes, Gai-sensei!” Lee shouted with equal enthusiasm.

Neji rolled his eyes at the sudden change in emotion. Those two were really odd. Tenten nodded silently as if she had heard his thoughts.

They excited the indoor forest and continue doing down the corridor. Neji stared at the silver and white design of the ship. It was obviously made of some sort of metal, but like the indoor forest, he could not locate the source of the light. There was not a single shadow on the floor or walls, only light. _Strange.._  he thought.

He activated his byakugan, scanning the entire hallway. He felt energy all around them, but the energy was not one of a human’s. It was more.. mechanical. The Hyuuga relaxed. This was not some sort of threatening illusion. It was only advanced technology. But.. there was something else. He felt a cold presence. The same aura he had felt when he was staring at that red haired boy from earlier..

He stopped in his tracks. The aura was growing stronger. That meant the person was coming closer. Was that boy in the training rooms as well? He felt his eyes began to strain, so he deactivated his byakugan to keep it from overuse.

He closed his eyes, and zoomed back into his own surroundings, away from the far places that his eyes could reach. He blinked in confusion when he realized that there was someone standing in front of him.

”Neji, are you okay?” Lee asked, sorry clear in his obsidian eyes. “You stopped in the middle of the hall, and your eyes were twitching.”

 _Were they?_ The Hyuuga knew that his eyes only twitched while using his beak byakugan when he was feeling a sense of discomfort, dread, or frustration. He blinked again, then felt that strange, alien feeling. About nine-tenths of his mind was growling _‘Stop getting distracted!’_  while the other one-tenth was screaming _‘Wait, he cares!?’_

The Hyuuga winced. What was he thinking? What made him start thinking about this.. this madness!? Maybe it was because he was feeling a little.. excited about the trip? _Yes, this small amount of excitement is to blame my strange thoughts!_

”Did you see anything?” Tenten asked, understanding that Neji was scanning the ship.

The Hyuuga turned to look at the brunette, and she nearly took a step back at the expression on the boy’s face. Well, not an expression. The male was blushing. It was faint, but she could see it. A light pink dusted across his cheeks.

She glanced at Lee, who was still looking at the Hyuuga in concern.

”Neji!” Lee leaned forwards slightly. “Do we need to go back to our room?”

Neji paused for a second, before shaking his head. His cool demeanor came back and he folded his arms over his chest.

”No. I was just looking ahead.” the Hyuuga continued walking.

Lee watched the other male in confusion, which made Tenten smile. She knew what was up. She was going to have to talk to Neji a little bit later.

Gai shook his head, then motioned for the other two to follow.

Lee did not understand why, but he felt a sense of hurt. It was strange, because Neji always acted like this. Cold, proud, and kept to himself. It just felt as if.. Neji was rejecting his care. It felt as if Neji did not care about the raven, and that hurt his heart. He did not like that feeling.

He glanced at Tenten, who was smiling to herself. That just made him more confused. _What was happening?_

At last, they finally reached the training rooms. Neji stepped into the room, then turned around and walked out of the room, his face twisted slightly in disturbance.

Lee could hear yelling in the room, which should be normal in a training room, except for the fact that it was only one voice.

“Hey, come on! Don’t you want to fight me?”

The raven saw Neji cringing at every word. He knew that the Hyuuga disliked loud noises.

Tenten paused in front of the doorway, then looked back towards her team.

”Are you guys coming?” she asked.

”Yosh!” Lee marched forwards, keeping his voice slightly quieter as to not upset Neji even further. “Let us train together!”

The training rooms were very large. Light seemed to radiate from the light grey walls. A few students were already trying out the target practice area, where strange machines moved around the targets to help the students sharpen their accuracy.

Most of the students were at the fighting area, where they could either practice their techniques on very sturdy practice dummies, or just straight up challenge one another to a sparring match.

“Hey guys, can we go to the target practice area?” Tenten was already tracing the handle of her throwing weapons, smiling with excitement.

”Sure. I wouldn’t mind.” Neji had his arms folded over his chest, pale eyes flickering from stranger to stranger. He did not like the dark aura. It was coming from.. the fighting area..

He glanced at the portion of the room where most of the chaos were. A burst of fire here, a volley of knives over there. Some of the attacks looked as if they meant to kill, but Neji knew that the soldiers that stood around the room would never allow anything like that.

”You three can explore the room if you’d like.” Gai gave them a blinding smile. “I have to meet up with an old friend of mine!”

With that, Lee’s beloved teacher jumped away, disappearing onto the crowd. The mass of students and teachers created a lot of noise, which irritated Neji and excited Lee, yet there was one voice that rose above the others..

”Why don’t you want to fight me?” a boy’s voice yelled. “We should at least spend some time training instead of walking around doing nothing! Come on, don’t you want to test out our strengths? Even if the others say that you’re strong, I’ll still beat you, believe it!”

”Would you shut up?” another boy’s voice growled in annoyance. “Just go fight someone else. I’m not in the mood, idiot.”

Lee peered over at the two boys curiously. They were kids, probably around his age or younger. He smiled when he saw the leaf symbol on their forehead protector. At least he knew that they were from the same area.

”Bastard.” a blonde, the louder of the two judging by his voice, grumbled with a pout.

”Hn.” the raven crossed his arms nod narrowed his eyes, which reminded Lee of Neji.

“Come on guys.” a semi-familiar female voice said. “Let’s just take a look around. That wouldn’t hurt, right?”

Tenten looked up from sharpening her weapons. “Sakura!”

The pink-haired girl turned around from the two boys. “Oh, Tenten! When did you get here?”

The blonde boy turned to look at the other three, blue eyes sparkling curiously. He folded his arms behind his head, messing up his already messy hair. “Hey there, I’m Naruto Uzumaki!”

”Hello, my name is Rock Lee! Pleased to meet you, Naruto-kun!” Lee said with a slight bow, trying to be polite to who he assumed to be Sakura’s teammates.

”I’m Tenten!” the knife-throwing expert gave them a little wave and a friendly smile. “You guys are Sakura’s teammates, right?”

”Yeah! Believe it!” Naruto said enthusiastically. Then, his face dusted with a light pink. “I’m so glad that I got put in with Sakura.” Then, his face turned sour. “But then I got put with this bastard too!”

Lee smiled brightly. This boy.. he had so much youth within him..

”Hn, shut up.” the ‘bastard’ said, eyes narrowing at the three strangers.

”Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” Neji finally decided to speak, pale eyes narrowing at the raven.

The raven turned his attention towards Neji. “I’m not required to answer that.”

”What?”

”That’s Sasuke Uchiha.” Naruto muttered lazily.

 Sasuke’s eye twitched. “Hn..”

”Then this is Neji Hyuuga!” Lee smiled, nodding his head towards said Hyuuga.

Neji rolled his eyes, but stayed silent.

Lee giggled, finding it amusing that the two boys seemed very similar in attitude and personality.

”So, they met up by themselves.”

A man with a mask that covered all of his face except for the area around his right eye stood about three feet away from the group, slouching lazily as if he had been there the whole time. His silver haired defied the laws of gravity, and everything about him seemed highly suspicious to Neji, except for the normal teacher attire that he wore.

“Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto jumped up and down. “Sasuke doesn’t want to train, so can I go by myself to get better with my fighting skills?”

”What happened to you wanting to fight me, idiot?” Sasuke muttered under his breath.

The man, Kakashi, closed his eyes, making it seem as I felt he was smiling half-heartedly. “Sure, but don’t stray too far away, don’t force someone to do something that they don’t want to do, and oh, don’t die.”

Lee frowned. Don’t die?

”Yeah yeah, thanks Kakashi!” Naruto ran off to the fighting area.

Kakashi watched him go for a few seconds before turning towards Lee. “Ah, I guess Gai really wasn’t lying..”

Lee brightened at the mention of his beloved teacher. “Oh? You know Gai-sensei?”

Kakashi’s eye ‘smiled’ again half-heartedly. “Yes, we are.. eternal rivals, as in what he calls it.”

”Eternal rivals?” Lee started shaking with excitement. “How very youthful!”

Kakashi chuckled softly under his mask. _So Gai finally got a little follower. He looks almost exactly like him, only smaller, like a mini him.. It looks as if there are two of him.. This actually looks kind of creepy.._

“Kakashi, my eternal rival!”

_Oh Lord._

Gai leaped into view, which caused a few nearby students to jump, startled. _At least he didn’t Dynamic Entried here._

“What were you up to, Kakashi? How is my eternal rival doing?” Gai gave him a blinding smile, but luckily the silver-haired man had already grown used to it, so he merely shrugged. “What delight to see you again! It hasn’t been a while since we last spoke.”

”Gai, we literally talked just few minutes ago-“

”I see that you have met my students!” the taijutsu master seemed to glow with excitement and pride. “So, what do you think of them? Do you think that they can defeat your students?”

Kakashi took out a book that made Neji’s eyes twitch and shrugged. “Meh, I dunno.”

”Still acting ‘hip’ and ‘cool’, I see.” Gai’s eyes had flames in them. “I will defeat you, Kakashi!”

”Alright, we can have another challenge right now if you want.” Kakashi murmured, knowing that his rival would keep popping out of nowhere to challenge him if he refused. It was better to get it over with.

“Oh, a challenge? Gai-sensei, can I come to watch?” Lee looked at his teacher, dark eyes wide with anticipation.

”Of course, Lee!” he gave his student a blinding smile and a thumbs-up. The nice-guy pose. “This would be great for your training and experience!”

”Yosh!” the green clad raven jumped up and down exuberantly. He then began to strike the air with his palms and fists as one of his training excercises, causing a few strangers around him to back up, afraid that they might catch a mental disease.

Neji rolled his eyes, and Tenten just giggled. As expected of them. The other team was only slightly different, which Sasuke being annoyed like Neji and Sakura just being plain confused.

Gai laughed whole-heartedly, then grinned. “So, are you ready for the challenge, Kakashi?”


End file.
